Perdue to reimburse state for quail hunting trip

(Atlanta-AP) -- Governor Perdue will reimburse the state $373 for a trip he took in a state helicopter to a quail hunt in January.

The governor decided yesterday to reimburse the state after a citizen filed a complaint with the governor's inspector general.

He made the trip to an insurance company's plantation in south Georgia January 24th at the end of his second week in office. The week before, Perdue had signed an executive order for a strict ethics policy. It barred any state employee, including himself, from accepting "anything of value exceeding $25."

Perdue spokeswoman Kimberly King said the trip combined hunting with a discussion of state business with U.S. Republican Representative Charlie Norwood of Georgia. But King says upon reflection the governor and his aides decided the trip "may not pass the sniff test." Perdue met Norwood at a plantation near Nashville, Georgia, that belongs to Life of the South, an insurer based in Jacksonville, Florida.

This marks the second time in recent weeks that Perdue has decided to pay back the state for use of a state helicopter. An Atlanta television station reported in April that Perdue's campaign would reimburse the state for a helicopter flight he took to a Republican rally in Blackshear before he was inaugurated.

King said at the time that Perdue took a side trip to the rally December 14th while making an official visit to a Georgia Southern University football game. She called it "an oversight" and said the governor decided to repay the state after the matter was brought to his attention.